Links for Thursday, March 4, 2021

WORTH THINKING ABOUT

Pieces of news or analysis that caught our eye:

Could the Netherlands boycott the Beijing Olympics? After the Dutch parliament adopted a motion to call China’s treatment of Uyghurs “genocide” last month — the prime minister and other government ministers either abstained from the vote or objected, following the pattern of Canada — Politico reports more on the country’s internal politics:

The Netherlands, a traditional Winter Olympics powerhouse thanks to its dominance in speed-skating events, has emerged recently as an advocate of using sporting events to hold host nations to account for their human rights policies.

Dutch lawmakers last month adopted a motion calling on the Dutch king and prime minister not to attend the football World Cup in Qatar if the Netherlands qualifies for next year’s tournament, citing the “appalling conditions” for migrant workers building the stadiums.

A similar motion for the Olympics was rejected, but lawmaker [Sjoerd Sjoerdsma, a Dutch MP from the ruling coalition’s D66 party,] said he was hopeful it might still pass in the coming weeks, with some parties likely to change their position.

However, the Netherlands’ Olympic Committee sounded a note of caution…“In the Netherlands, we have the policy that a sports boycott is only talked about if the Netherlands as a country participates in a larger international boycott involving several sectors. That is not the case.”

Canada’s Olympic organizers, per Politico, seem even less willing to accept a boycott. And in the U.S., the Biden administration says that it has not made any “final decision” on participating in the Olympics — which will probably remain the American position for months to come.

MORE NEWS FROM AROUND THE WORLD

BUSINESS AND TECHNOLOGY:

• Huobi gets Hong Kong license to issue cryptocurrency funds
  Huobi subsidiary nabs Hong Kong asset management license / TechNode
  Huobi Tech soars as unit gets greenlight to issue cryptocurrency funds in Hong Kong / Yicai
  Founded in 2013 as a bitcoin trading exchange for China, Huobi (1611.HK) pivoted after the Chinese government outlawed domestic cryptocurrency exchanges in 2017 and began offering blockchain technology as a service, and setting up exchanges in other countries, including South Korea and the Seychelles.
  In 2018, Huobi went public on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange via a backdoor listing. Today a Huobi subsidiary in Hong Kong has been given a license to deal in virtual assets that will allow it to “issue three cryptocurrency funds, namely a Bitcoin tracking fund, an Ethereum tracking fund and a multi-strategy fund.”
• Silicon wars: Chinese chipmaker SMIC gets a lifeline from ASML
  Sanction-hobbled SMIC to keep doing business with major western supplier / Caixin (paywall)
  ASML extends sales deal with Chinese chipmaker SMIC to end of 2021 / Reuters
  Amid shortage U.S. suppliers to Chinese chip giant SMIC struggle to get export licenses / Reuters
  But Dutch manufacturer of advanced chipmaking equipment ASML (Nasdaq: ASML) has extended a deal to sell gear — although not its cutting-edge products — to SMIC until the end of this year.
• Tourists back on road in China and to Japan, Singapore, South Korea
  Uptick in tourism during holiday signals rebound / China Daily
  “During the seven-day break, travelers made around 256 million trips to domestic destinations, a year-on-year rise of 15.7 percent from the same period in 2020 when the pandemic had just started.”
  Trip.com reports quarterly profit despite revenue decline / Caixin (paywall)
  Trip.com’s revenue decline slows in Q4, as it expects a strong travel rebound / KrASIA
• China’s BYD sells electric buses to Germany’s biggest fleet
  China’s BYD secures first electric bus order from Deutsche Bahn / Yicai
  Germany’s largest bus operator, Deutsche Bahn, has ordered five electric buses from Chinese automaker BYD (OTC US: BYDDF). BYD has been making electric vehicles since 2008, and is backed by American billionaire Warren Buffett.
• Liquor-making province wants people to drink more liquor
  China’s top stock funds trashed by $111 billion Moutai wipeout / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  Kweichow Moutai’s home base aims to double liquor industry / Caixin (paywall)
  “China wants people to drink more liquor in the next five years, according to the new five-year development plan of southwest China’s Guizhou Province, the home of the world’s most valuable liquor-maker Kweichow Moutai.”
• Who makes a fifth of the world’s phones?
  Meet BBK, the world’s largest phone maker that you’ve never heard of / KrASIA
  “By viewing Oppo, Vivo, and Realme as part of the same group, BBK is the world’s largest smartphone maker, with a 19% market share in 2020, per recent data by Counterpoint Research. BBK has always maintained a scant public-facing presence, while Oppo, Vivo, Realme, and OnePlus have downplayed their undeniable shared history and lineage.”
• Electric and smart cars
  Nickel, Tesla battery metal Musk worries about, gets much cheaper / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
  “Nickel fell as much as 5.6% to 130,510 yuan a ton on the Shanghai Futures Exchange, dropping by the daily limit.”
  Evergrande courts Hong Kong tycoons to rev up electric vehicle push / FT (paywall)
  ByteDance said to invest in Chinese self-driving startup QCraft / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• China Investment Corp. returns more than 12% on overseas investments in 2020
  China’s $1 trillion wealth fund gains 12% in ‘unusual year’ / Bloomberg (porous paywall)
• Australian schools are losing Chinese revenue, but U.K. applications are up
  China-Australia relations: Lucrative international education sector takes hit amid trade row, survey shows / SCMP (porous paywall)
  “Some 62 per cent of the respondents say attitudes toward Australian education in China ‘have deteriorated’ since a diplomatic spat started.”
  中国学生申请英本科留学者增21% 今年录取竞争激烈 / Caixin
  “The number of Chinese students applying for undergraduate study in the UK increased by 21%”
• Tech companies expanding and making money
  Alibaba buys Bangladesh food delivery service HungryNaki / KrASIA
  Pinduoduo doubles sale of agricultural goods in 2020 due to COVID-19 Lockdowns / Caixin
  Apple-supplier Foxconn flags strong start to year as lockdowns spur electronics demand / Reuters via CNA
  China’s Tencent becomes an investment powerhouse, using deals to expand its empire / WSJ (paywall)
• Chip and electronics choke points
  New U.S. Commerce head will use ‘Entity List’ to “full effect” / Reuters
  Global semiconductor shortage spurs run on vintage chipmaking tools / Reuters via CNA
  Taiwan’s Acer says component shortage squeezes PC makers / Caixin (paywall)
• Yet another Clubhouse clone
  ByteDance developing Clubhouse-like app for China amid copycat rush: sources / Reuters
• Hot hogs
  Hog disease outbreak in China triggers surge in U.S. prices / Bloomberg via Caixin
  “Prices have risen more than 25% this year, making hogs one of the top-performing commodities.”

SCIENCE, HEALTH, AND THE ENVIRONMENT:

• Anal COVID tests
  Factbox: China’s anal tests for coronavirus upset visitors / Reuters
  China makes anal swab Covid tests compulsory for foreign arrivals / The Times (U.K.)
• WHO changes plans for when to release reports on Wuhan findings
  WHO investigators to scrap plans for interim report on probe of COVID-19 origins / WSJ (paywall)
• Does China have a vaccine-hesitancy problem?
  China’s Sinopharm to raise vaccine production to 3 billion per year / Global Times
  China approves 17 COVID-19 vaccines for clinical trials to reach herd immunity by mid 2022: officials / Global Times
  China will have enough vaccine doses — convincing the public is the issue, experts say / SCMP (porous paywall)
  Beijing public health workers the least willing in China to get COVID-19 vaccine, survey finds / SCMP (porous paywall)
  Release coronavirus vaccine efficacy data, ex-China drug watchdog chief urges country’s pharma firms / SCMP (porous paywall)
• National Medical Products Administration approves three TCM treatments for COVID
  China approves sale of traditional medicine products to treat COVID-19 / CNN
• Space exploration
  Chinese astronauts training for space station crewed flights / AP
  China’s Tianwen-1 zooms in on Mars surface on cusp of new tech era / SCMP (porous paywall)
  China preparing to build Tiangong station in 2021, complete by 2022 / NASASpaceFlight

POLITICS AND CURRENT AFFAIRS:

• Hong Kong: Sweeping electoral changes are coming, but details still slim
  China legislature to deliberate Hong Kong electoral changes / AP
  “National People’s Congress spokesperson Zhang Yesui said the changes are aimed at ensuring that Hong Kong’s political system will ‘keep abreast of the times’ under the principle of ‘patriots’ administering the city.”
  Carrie Lam says HK welcomes NPC decision to improve electoral system, to fully cooperate / Global Times
  Last week on The China Project: Beijing to further tighten grip on Hong Kong by enshrining patriotism test for public office.
• Other Hong Kong developments
  All 47 democrats facing security law charges remanded in custody after Dep’t of Justice appeals against bail decision for 15 / HKFP
  Hong Kong national security police arrest former Next Digital exec. director over alleged fraud / HKFP
  Hong Kong dropped from economic freedom index after crackdown / FT (paywall, or see HKFP)
  “The Heritage Foundation also dropped the Chinese special autonomous region of Macau, a casino hub and former Portuguese colony, from the rankings.”
• State media celebrates flight of investment from Australia
  Australia paying the price for prejudice: China Daily editorial / China Daily
  “Statistics show both Chinese investments and students in Australia registered a considerable decline in 2020. The raging COVID-19 pandemic may have played a significant part in this, but the anti-China policies adopted by Canberra and the widespread anti-China sentiment in Australia, which have plunged bilateral ties to their lowest ebb in years, were also to blame.”
• India-China border disengagement
  China and India are pulling back from the brink. They’ve created a buffer zone and started talks. / Washington Post (porous paywall)
  An analysis by M. Taylor Fravel, a scholar of China’s military, of the recent deescalation of the India-China border crisis.
• Investigation into Elaine Chao, the Trump-era transportation secretary
  Inspector general’s report cites Elaine Chao for using office to help family / NYT (porous paywall)
  “While serving as transportation secretary during the Trump administration, Elaine Chao repeatedly used her office staff to help family members who run a shipping business with extensive ties to China, a report released Wednesday by the Transportation Department’s inspector general concluded.”
  Q&A: Mike Forsythe on how Elaine Chao used connections to boost family business / Center for Public Integrity
• CGTN given lifeline in France
  CGTN set to return to European screens, but French regulator warns about future conduct / SCMP (porous paywall)
  Finbarr Bermingham on Twitter: “This is the first time a network that has been ejected from another country has been given clearance to broadcast in France, but the French also has history of kicking networks out for foul play.”
  Last month on The China Project: U.K. revokes broadcast license of CGTN after finding it is ‘ultimately controlled by the Chinese Communist Party’.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE:

• Implications of Beijing’s obsession with masculinity
  Is China killing off its “little fresh meat”? / Jing Daily
  An in-depth piece analyzing the government push to prevent the “feminization” of young males.
  See also The China Project’s report last month: China wants teenage boys to man up, but public fears toxic masculinity.
• Literally making money while sleeping
  Taiwan livestreamer falls asleep with camera on, wakes up to over 11,000 people watching / Mothership.SG
  ‘Sleeping beauty’ influencer makes money after falling asleep during livestream / The China Post, Taiwan
• Lost and found antiques
  ‘Exceptional’ 15th-century Ming dynasty bowl unearthed at U.S. yard sale / BBC